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Megan Wappel is much like the character played by Jennifer Lopez in the popular chick flick The Wedding Planner. “It’s actually quite accurate, aside from the falling in love with the groom, TV monitors and headsets,” explained the 31-year-old creator of Megan Wappel Designs and The Confetti Co.

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The work of Saskatchewan’s own Joe Fafard one of Canada’s leading professional visual artists was celebrated March 26 at the opening of his Mes Amis exhibition at Regina’s Slate Fine Art Gallery. The opening reception attracted collectors and admirers of Fafard’s bronze sculptures and etchings.

Joe Fafard continues to challenge himself. As one of Canada’s leading professional visual artists, he doesn’t allow himself to stagnate. In turn, the 72-year-old Saskatchewan-born artist continues to be widely recognized as being at the forefront of his art.

There’s a lot of new at Ricky’s All-Day Grill. A second location opened recently in Regina, this one in Harbour Landing. With the ribbon cutting came the introduction of a new modernized layout and a revamped menu. This is the second location with a fresh casual sports bar look after the first opened in North Calgary in December.

One of the aisles to receive insufficient attention in this province (and indeed across Canada) is the one holding South African wines.South Africa was making great wine long before other countries. The vineyards are almost a suburb of Cape Town these days, and were among the first farms planted by Europeans. They make first rate reds and whites. They excel at Rhone style red blends, and a varietal that is unique to the country, Pinotage. They also make great whites and white blends. I’m keen on the blends but if you are a little less adventuresome, you may prefer to have a varietal listed on the front label. Pinot Grigio has taken the world by storm in the last 10 years. Most of what people drink under that name has little resemblance to the bright, angular white that started this revolution. I have more or less given up drinking the $10 end of the wines as they get rather insipid. Jean, an acting and writing friend of mine, damns them with faint praise describing them as “adequate.”

Quinoa isn’t a traditional grain to grow on the prairies, but a family from Kamsack developed a variety that thrives here and is now sold across the country.Joe Dutcheshen and his family started growing quinoa on the prairies more than 20 years ago, “Before it was popular,” says Beatriz Gomez, Joe’s daughter-in-law. Norquin’s quinoa is a different type than the typical South American variety sold here. Norquin’s golden quinoa has a strong nutty flavour, and is high in protein and carbohydrates. It’s a result of Dutcheshen’s breeding program, specialized to produce a delicious, nutrient-dense grain that’s adapted to growing in Canada.

Inspiration often alights at unexpected times and in unusual forms. For my new novel, Zero Time, inspiration arrived unexpectedly several years ago after I had just admitted to my wife that my creative fountain had run dry. Somewhat forlornly, I stretched out in bed, and as my head hit the pillow, a cascade of ideas flooded into my mind. It felt as though someone was holding an upturned pitcher of liquid creativity and pouring it through an invisible opening in my forehead.

Inspiration often alights at unexpected times and in unusual forms. For my new novel, Zero Time, inspiration arrived unexpectedly several years ago after I had just admitted to my wife that my creative fountain had run dry. Somewhat forlornly, I stretched out in bed, and as my head hit the pillow, a cascade of ideas flooded into my mind. It felt as though someone was holding an upturned pitcher of liquid creativity and pouring it through an invisible opening in my forehead.

I’ve got a thing for Chianti. It started with straw covered bottles (such as Fiasco, which is only produced for the export market these days) that got converted into candle holders, suitable for sitting beneath Jimi Hendrix posters.Before Jimi was born, Chianti was a brilliant wine, with firm tannins, medium to high acidity and great minerality from the better vineyards. The Second World War saw the vineyards largely destroyed and then neglected. About the time it occurred to Jimi to grow his hair long, Chianti was a pretty rough red wine. It was fine for students and rockers but not really something you’d put in front of anybody with a palate. The next 50 years saw an enormous improvement in the wine and now I think of it as underrated. Great Chianti cellars for at least a decade, and has a tremendous balance and poise that allows you to eat anything with it.

To be a decent home chef, you need a few tools of the trade. Equip your kitchen with a good set of basics and it’ll help make cooking easier. And easier cooking makes for a less-stressed chef.Simon Reynolds, who took home the bronze at Gold Medal Plates last year, shared his favourite kitchen necessities for home chefs. Reynolds runs Simon’s Fine Foods, a catering and takeaway business in Saskatoon. He’s also taught cooking classes (which are regularly sold-out) for years on everything from knife skills to mastering Indian and vegetarian food. He knows firsthand the challenges home chefs face. Deciding what to buy on a limited budget isn’t easy. Most of his recommendations are in the $20 range; you really don’t have to spend a lot of money to get some proper tools. When it comes to knives though, think of it as an investment and spend as much as you can afford. Good quality knives will last a lifetime if treated right.KNIVESYou can buy cheap knives but they won’t last as long.

WHAT? A red brick house that was built as a residence for the superintendent of the Forestry Farm Park. At that time, the site was the Sutherland Forest Nursery Station (part of the PFRA or Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Program). At one time, the prairie shelter belt program shipped seven million trees annually to farms for shelterbelts, which helped protect land from drought and wind. WHERE? The Superintendent’s Residence is located on the grounds of the Forestry Farm Park in Saskatoon.WHEN? The house was built in 1913. The non-profit Friends of the Forestry Farm House formed in 1996 to meet the challenges of saving, restoring and interpreting the building, which was slated for demolition.WHO? The group got a 10-year lease on the building from the City of Saskatoon. They raised the money and did all the renovation work. The Forestry Farm (and the Superintendent’s Residence) is now a protected National Historic Site.The first superintendent was James McLean. He, his wife and three children moved to Saskatoon from rural Saskatchewan where they lived in a sod house. They stayed for the next 29 years.

My father left the prairie farm site near Watrous in 1931 to pursue a new beginning on a homestead outside of Carrot River. Hardships, as one might imagine, were constant companions. There were no roads, drainage ditches or cleared land that could be cultivated. There was also excessive rain and mosquitoes beyond imagination. All his worldly possessions were loaded on a hayrack drawn by a team of Clydesdales and trekked the 200 miles northeast.

Everything old is new again, and in this case, we mean it in every sense of the word. Except for the four walls, floor and ceiling, it’s all new at K Family Kitchen. The long established restaurant reopened recently after a grease fire tore through the kitchen last year, burning everything in sight.

Vivid. Abstract. Mysterious. Photographic art enthusiasts gathered at The Hague on March 11 for the opening reception of Michael Bell’s Light Passing Through Glass exhibition. The collection of photographs are the result of Bell’s “highly technical and inquisitive pursuit of light refraction through colour glass marbles.”